This is a message from our Rescue Christians team in Pakistan, just to show you how brutal life is for Christians and what type of rescue work we are doing in that country:
On August 22, 2013, three Pakistani Muslim men – Umar Saghar, Muhammad Kashif and Shahid Nazir – abducted Shama Nasir, a 15-year-old who is the second child of Nasir Masih. A few days before this incident occurred, these three men visited Nasir Masih and asked him to embrace Islam, which he refused instantly. Then, on August 22, when Nasir Masih was at work, they entered the house and beat his wife and children before kidnapping Shama, his 15-year old daughter.
That night, Nasir Masih – along with some local Christians – went to the police station to register a complaint against Umar Saghar, Muhammad Kashif and Shahid Nazir. However, instead of taking their application, the police stated that his daughter Shama had embraced Islam and was married to Umar Saghar. The police humiliated Nasir Masih and other Christians, threatening to put them in jail if they came back. Nasir Masih went to several Christian NGOs and churches to help him to rescue his daughter, but no help was provided. Soon thereafter, Nasir Masih contacted us through one of the previous victims we had helped. On September 9, we investigated the matter. We engaged with some of the influential Muslims through our lawyers to help us rescue the young girl. After two days of meetings with Muslim clerics and influential political persons, we were able to rescue Shama Nasir from Umar Saghar.
Initially, Umar Saghar refused to hand Shama over, stating that “she is his wife now and he will not return her.” Some of the Muslim clerics who backed Umar also stated that “she is Muslim now and you cannot take her back.” However, our team and a Muslim friend pressured Umar and Muslim cleric Qari Aslam to bring the girl to the meeting and to ask her if she accepts being a Muslim and remaining the wife of Umar. Then this matter would immediately be finished. On the evening of the September 11 – as soon as Shama saw her father – she began shouting, requesting her rescue from Umar, saying that “she did not accept Islam and that Umar had forcibly put her thumb print on various legal papers.” Shama also said – in front of everyone – that “I want to go with my father.”
Tags: forced marriage, halo project, haloproject, honour based violence
